Dad's knife-point robbery sparked police career
Over a decade ago, his father was robbed at knife-point.
It happened in Malaysia, where the family and the young teen was based in at the time.
While Lee Chee Guan's parents tried to shield him from most of the details, when he did find out, it was a crucial turning point for the then teenager.
He said: "I felt a sense of helplessness when I heard about it."
This was the spark the young Sgt Lee needed to give his life a sense of purpose.
At that point, he resolved to become a police officer to prevent such crime and contribute to the community.
Today, he is a sergeant with the Singapore Police Force.
He recalled the incident:
Sgt Lee's father had been washing his car alone when two robbers approached his father from the back and held a knife up to him.
The robbers made away with his father's car and wallet.
The car was then used in a bank robbery.
Sgt Lee, now 23, said: "This ignited in me a passion to help the defenceless."
His father is his mentor, and he could not imagine what life would have been like had his father been hurt.
Fortunately, his father escaped unscathed and the Malaysian police were able to recover his father's belongings.
He graduated from Singapore Polytechnic in 2013 with a diploma in Architecture.
He then decided to hold off further education in order to pursue his passion of serving in the police force.
Sgt Lee has been serving as a Ground Response Officer with the Orchard Neighbourhood Police Centre for close to three years .
On what he enjoys most about his job, he said: "In the Orchard area, we deal with people from all walks of life, from old men to shoppers. The cases that I've attended to have been very interesting."
He recalls a case where someone lost his money, and there were many suspects. Eventually his team managed to narrow down the correct suspect.
Sgt Lee said with a laugh: "After working for a while, you tend to develop a sixth sense to roughly feel what the case is about."
He finds it thrilling to have to adapt to different situations on the spot.
Sgt Lee's passion and dedication to the service have earned him a sponsorship from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
And he will be pursuing a Bachelor in Accountancy at Nanyang Technological University this year.
Sgt Lee joked: "I developed my right brain with architecture, so now I want to develop my left brain with accountancy."
He looks forward to continuing in the Singapore Police Force (SPF) after clinching his accountancy degree.
Sgt Lee said: "I've always wanted to work with the Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) of the police force and work with higher-intelligence criminals. I like investigation work. Accountancy at NTU will give me a better platform to venture into the CAD in the future."
Read more: She gets into the minds of criminals
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